Melbourne braces for coldest day of the year as icy weather blast continues
An icy blast saw the mercury plummet below zero across Victoria and Melbourne surrounds as the state shivered through the coldest start of the year so far.
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The temperature across Melbourne’s suburbs and surrounds plummeted this morning.
In the CBD it was 2.1C at 7.20am but the apparent temperature was a bone-chilling -1.3C.
Visitors arriving on the handful of flights into Tullamarine before 8am stepped out into 1.8C but it felt like -3.4C.
The coldest spot near Melbourne was Coldstream to the east where it dropped to -3.6C at 7.17am.
Temperatures dropped well below zero across Victoria.
It was -1.5C in Bendigo, but felt like -5.2C, -2.4C in Kyabram and -3.5C in Rutherglen.
In the Dandenongs, it was -1.5C at Sassafras at 5.54am.
Horsham dropped to -2C at 7.20am, but it felt like -7.2C.
In the Alpine region the apparent temperature was -8.1C at Mt Buller and -6.5C at Falls Creek at 7.20am.
In East Gippsland, Omeo dipped to -4.6C and Bairnsdale -0.7C.
Weather bureau duty forecaster Peter Blake said “all the ingredients” were in place to create the freezing start to the day.
Melbourne is expected to reach just 15C today. The temperature isn’t expected to top 17C for the next six days.
“It’s pretty much clear skies at night and there’s no wind allows the temperature to drop away,” he said.
“The Earth gives all its heat back to the atmosphere and we end up with a fairly chilly morning.”
Mr Blake said the recent cold snaps and lack of heat from the sun this time of year also meant the air mass wasn’t very warm to start with.
Mt Hotham was the coldest place in Victoria yesterday morning with the temperature dipping to -6.8C, while in Falls Creek it was -4.2C, Omeo was -3.9C and Coldstream -2.1C.
Along the coast, however, at places such as Wilsons Promontory it only dipped to 9.3C as the ocean takes longer to cool down than inland areas.
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